Monday 19 September 2011

Mad Men scoops fourth drama Emmy

Mad Men made history Sunday at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles - history both good and notso-good.


The densely layered, exquisitely detailed period drama about ad men on Madison Ave. in the early 1960s won its fourth consecutive Emmy for outstanding drama series, a win that places it in select Emmy company.


By winning four in a row, Mad Men tied an Emmy record with iconic series Hill Street Blues, which won four consecutive Emmys between 1981-'84, and The West Wing, which won between 2000-'03. The only other series to win four drama Emmys was L.A. Law, which spread its total over five years.


Strangely, however, Mad Men has yet to win a single Emmy for its acting, even though performers Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss were considered among the front-runners this year in their respective categories.


The major drama acting awards went instead to firsttime winner Kyle Chandler, for Friday Night Lights, and Golden Globe and two-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner Julianna Margulies, for The Good Wife.


Justified's Margo Martindale and Game of Throne's Peter Dinklage won Emmys in the supporting actor categories, over Mad Men nominees Christina Hendricks and John Slattery respectively.


In the comedy awards, Modern Family won a total of five awards as it was named TV's outstanding comedy series for a second straight year, as expected.


Modern Family also won Emmys for its writing, directing and supporting players Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen.


Boardwalk Empire led all programs with eight Emmys overall, including a directing win for Martin Scorsese.


Downton Abbey, U.K. novelist Julian Fellowes' period epicof-manners set in a fictional stately home early in the reign of King George V, won six Emmys, including awards for outstanding miniseries, writing and directing.


Mildred Pierce, filmmaker Todd Haynes' five-part HBO ministries adapted from James M. Cain's 1941 novel about a self-sacrificing mother suddenly separated from her husband in Depression-era California, won five Emmys.


In the best actor in a drama category, Jon Hamm, who plays womanising advertising executive Don Draper in Mad Men, lost out to the night's surprise winner, Kyle Chandler, for Texas American Football tale Friday Night Lights.


"I knew for a fact I would not be standing here," said Chandler. "I did not write anything and now I'm starting to worry."


The prize for best drama actress went to The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies, who won a supporting actress Emmy in 1995 for ER.


Supporting actor prizes went to Peter Dinklage, for medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones, and Margo Martindale for Kentucky-set Justified.


Modern Family, which follows a series of couples and their children, won the first four awards of the night, including supporting actor awards for on-screen husband and wife Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen.


That led host Jane Lynch - Glee's Sue Sylvester - to joke: "Welcome back to the Modern Family awards."


Steve Levitan, who created the show, which was named best comedy for a second consecutive year, called the wins "an embarrassment of riches".


The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons won best comedy actor for a second year running while Melissa McCarthy, star of sitcom Mike & Molly, won the best actress award.


Briton Kate Winslett was name best actress in a mini-series for her turn as a divorced single mum who opens a restaurant business in 1930s Depression-era California in Mildred Pierce


She said she was "thrilled" and revealed she had a crush on co-star and former Neighbours actor Guy Pearce "since I was 11-year-old so just to stand in the same room as him was really thrilling for me".


Pearce also picked up best supporting for Mildred Pierce.


Best actor in a mini-series went to Barry Pepper for his performance as Robert F Kennedy in The Kennedys.


British programme Downton Abbey, meanwhile, took four prizes including best mini-series and best supporting actress, for Dame Maggie Smith.



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